1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plate making machine for making a printing master, and more particularly to a small-size plate making machine for making a small-size master such as one for a double postal card.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, a plate making machine is used to produce an image master used in a printing machine. In a conventional plate making machine, a supply transfer system and a discharge transfer system (both of which transfer master paper) are provided respectively on opposite sides of an exposure stage (at which an original image is exposed) in adjacent relation to each other in a horizontal direction. After the master paper is electrostatically charged at the supply transfer system, the master paper is supplied to the exposure stage. Then, the master paper which has received a latent image of the original image at the exposure stage is fed to the discharge transfer system where the original image is made visible, and then the master paper is subjected to development and fixing, and then is fed to a discharge tray.
In the conventional plate making machine, since the supply transfer system and the discharge transfer system (both of which transfer the master paper) are thus provided respectively on the opposite sides of the exposure stage (at which the original image is exposed) in adjacent relation to each other in a horizontal direction, the size of the plate making machine in the horizontal direction tends to become large. Particularly in the field of light printing using a small-size master such as one for a double postal card, the space of installation of the plate making machine becomes large as compared with that of the printing machine, and therefore there has been a demand for a compact-size design of the plate making machine.